The hue and cry for an eight-team playoff is coming from all corners of the NCAA football world.

We hear it getting louder and louder with every passing week.

Those pundits, including us here at College Football Frenzy, might get what they want sooner rather than later.

As in this December.

No … really.

By virtue of the season that is, next week’s conference championships are lining up like an eight-team playoff of sorts.

The Pac-12’s cannibalization of itself and a second loss by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the only independent program that was in the national championship conversation, have left only the top teams from the four Power Five conferences not named the Pac-12 in contention for the four College Football Playoff berths.

It, more or less, breaks down like this …

— The winner of the SEC Championship Game is in.

— The winner of the ACC Championship Game between the Miami Hurricanes and a one-loss Clemson Tigers is in.

— The winner of the Big 10 Football Championship Game between the Wisconsin Badgers and a two-loss Ohio State Buckeyes team is in.

— The winner of a Big 12 Championship Game between the Oklahoma Sooners and a two-loss TCU Horned Frogs is in.

OK, so such an ‘elite eight’ scenario is certainly no sure thing at this point — and TCU would need a lot of higher-ranked two-loss teams to make their final-four bid as cut and dry as spelled out above.

But a few of this weekend’s games will go a long way in putting that ‘playoff’ in play with the Iron Bowl between the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide and the No. 6 Auburn Tigers on Saturday serving as the linch-pin.

An Alabama win knocks out the wildcard that is Auburn and makes it certain that the SEC Championship Game between ’Bama and the No. 7 Georgia Bulldogs on Dec. 2 is a play-in contest to the final four. An Auburn win, on the other hand throws a wrench in the ‘elite eight’ venture.

The other Week 13 results that would wreak havoc on such a ‘playoff’ are No. 9 Ohio State (9-2) losing to the host Michigan Wolverines (8-3) and Georgia (10-1) dropping its annual rivalry tilt with the host Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (5-5) — both distinct possibilities.

Otherwise, bring on the pseudo eight-team playoff next week!

SECOND DOWN

The U.S. Thanksgiving weekend started off with the Egg Bowl, Ole Miss (5-6) at No. 14 Mississippi State (8-3), on Thursday night. Mississippi State went into Week 13 as the highest ranked three-loss team … Friday’s 15-game slate features No. 2 Miami (10-0) at Pittsburgh (4-7) (noon ET, ABC) … Another biggie Friday sees No. 12 TCU (9-2) host hapless Baylor (10-1) (noon ET), but no word on whether QB Kenny Hill (concussion) is a for-sure go under centre. A win by TCU on Friday guarantees a berth in the Big 12 Championship Game for Gary Patterson’s squad against No. 4 Oklahoma (10-1) … Also Friday, it’s two of the top-three Group of Five teams squaring off against each other — South Florida (9-1) at No.15 UCF (10-0) (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC). Memphis (9-1) awaits the winner of the War On I-4 battle in the American Athletic Conference title game with the winner then likely earning the coveted Group of Five berth in a New Year’s Six bowl game.

THIRD DOWN

Nick Saban’s career against a nine-win Auburn team isn’t exactly what you’d call successful. Fact is the LSU-turned-Alabama head coach is 0-6 all-time against War Eagle with nine Ws to its credit in a season … Miami better not be looking at host Pittsburgh as a free space on the bingo card. History shows Pitt as a winner in three of its last four home meetings against a top-five opponent in the month of November or December … The fallout from Crotch-grab-gate turned in by Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield after Kansas snubbed him by not shaking his hand during the coin-toss last Saturday goes like this: Mayfield won’t start OK’s final home game or be captain Saturday against West Virginia (7-4), while three of those players from Kansas (1-10) won’t serve as captains Saturday against host Oklahoma State (8-3) … BTW: West Virginia won’t have starting QB Will Grier (finger) to face host Oklahoma … Michigan QB Brandon Peters is still in concussion protocol.

FOURTH DOWN

Sounds like head coach Kevin Sumlin is done at Texas A&M (7-4), win or lose this weekend’s regular-season finale at No. 18 LSU (8-3) … Jim Mora got a $12-million heave-ho from UCLA after last week’s loss to rival USC dropped the Pac-12 side to 5-6. He went 46-30 as UCLA’s head coach over six seasons but was just 9-14 the last two seasons despite boasting talented QB Josh Rosen. Mora’s replacement could be former Oregon guru Chip Kelly, who has interviewed for the sideline boss gig at both UCLA and Florida in the last week and is expected to make his decision shortly … Believe it or not, the last time UCLA won the Pac-12 title was waaaaaay back in 1998 … And how’s this for a ‘finally’ moment? The TSN channels are carrying eight different NCAA games throughout the day Saturday.

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